Basketball training system

Abstract

A basketball training system includes a user interface and a ball delivery machine. The user interface presents a visual representation of a portion of a basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court. The user interface receives user inputs relative to the visual representation that identify selected ball delivery locations desired by the user. The ball delivery machine is responsive to the user interface for delivering basketballs to the selected ball delivery locations.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A basketball training system comprising:
 a user interface that presents a visual representation of a portion of a basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court, wherein the user interface displays a ball delivery machine location on the visual representation, and wherein the user interface is configured to receive user inputs relative to the visual representation that identify selected ball delivery locations desired by a user relative to the ball delivery machine location displayed on the visual representation, 
 wherein the user interface comprises a touchscreen user interface, 
 wherein the user inputs comprise user gesture inputs received at the touchscreen user interface, and wherein the selected ball delivery locations comprise an ordered sequence of ball delivery locations; and 
 a ball delivery machine, responsive to the user interface, for delivering basketballs to physical locations corresponding to the selected ball delivery locations, wherein the ball delivery machine includes: 
 a controller in communication with the user interface, the controller comprising one or more processors and a computer-readable storage medium; and 
 a ball launcher responsive to the controller, wherein the controller is configured to provide control commands to the ball launcher to cause the ball launcher to launch basketballs from the ball delivery machine to the physical locations corresponding to the selected ball delivery locations according to the selected ball delivery locations that were received relative to the ball delivery machine location displayed on the visual representation, and wherein the ball delivery machine is configured to deliver the basketballs to the physical locations corresponding to the selected ball delivery locations according to the ordered sequence; 
 a ball in play sensor configured to indicate when one or more basketballs are delivered by the ball launcher; and 
 a shot made sensor configured to indicate when one or more basketball shots are successfully made. 
 
     
     
       2. The basketball training system of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface is configured to receive user inputs that identify the ball delivery machine location with respect to the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court. 
     
     
       3. The basketball training system of  claim 1 
 wherein the user interface is configured to present graphical control elements that enable user input to reorder the ordered sequence of ball delivery locations. 
 
     
     
       4. The basketball training system of  claim 1 ,
 wherein in response to user input that selects a stored drill, the user interface is configured to display on the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court the ball delivery machine location and selected ball delivery locations associated with the selected stored drill. 
 
     
     
       5. The basketball training system of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the user interface is configured to receive user inputs relative to the visual representation that identify selected shot locations that are separate from the selected ball delivery locations. 
 
     
     
       6. The basketball training system of  claim 5 ,
 wherein the user interface is configured to display indications of user movement between the selected ball delivery locations and the selected shot locations. 
 
     
     
       7. The basketball training system of  claim 5 ,
 wherein the user interface is configured to display indications of user maneuvers corresponding to user movement between the selected ball delivery locations and the selected shot locations. 
 
     
     
       8. The basketball training system of  claim 7 ,
 wherein the user maneuvers comprise at least one of a pump fake, a jab step, a crossover dribble, a behind the back dribble, a two dribble pullup, and a three dribble pullup. 
 
     
     
       9. The basketball training system of  claim 1 , wherein the user gesture inputs comprise a drag-and-drop input. 
     
     
       10. The basketball training system of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface can present graphical control elements in the form of numbered icons that can be moved via a drag-and-drop input. 
     
     
       11. The basketball training system of  claim 1 , wherein the user gesture inputs comprise a tap gesture input. 
     
     
       12. The basketball training system of  claim 1 , wherein the visual representation presented by the user interface further includes indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations. 
     
     
       13. The basketball training system of  claim 12 , wherein the indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations comprises lines. 
     
     
       14. The basketball training system of  claim 13 , wherein the indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations comprises a free throw line and a three-point line. 
     
     
       15. A method comprising:
 outputting, by a computing device for presentation at a display device, a user interface including a visual representation of at least a portion of a basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court, wherein the visual representation of at least the portion of the basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations is presented on a touch-sensitive display device, wherein the user interface displays a ball delivery machine location on the visual representation; 
 receiving, by the computing device, an indication of user inputs relative to the ball delivery machine location on the visual representation that identify selected ball delivery locations, wherein receiving the indication of the user inputs relative to the ball delivery machine location on the visual representation that identify the selected ball delivery locations comprises receiving the indication of the user inputs as an ordered sequence of ball delivery locations, wherein the indication of user inputs is received on the touch-sensitive display device, and wherein the computing device drives the touch-sensitive display device to display the selected ball delivery locations relative to the ball delivery machine location on the visual representation of at least the portion of the basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations in response to receiving the indication of user inputs relative to the ball delivery machine location on the visual representation that identify selected ball delivery locations; and 
 outputting, by the computing device, the selected ball delivery locations to a controller of a ball delivery machine configured to deliver basketballs from the ball delivery machine toward physical locations corresponding to each of the selected ball delivery locations, wherein the ball delivery machine comprises a ball launcher responsive to the controller; 
 providing, by the controller, control commands to the ball launcher to cause the ball launcher to launch the basketballs from the ball delivery machine to the physical locations corresponding to the selected ball delivery locations according to the selected ball delivery locations that were received relative to the ball delivery machine location displayed on the visual representation; and 
 launching, by the ball launcher, the basketballs in the directions responsive to the control commands. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computing device, an indication of user inputs relative to the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court that identify the location of the ball delivery machine. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computing device via the user interface, an indication of user inputs to select a stored drill; and 
 outputting, by the computing device in response to receiving the indication of the user inputs to select the stored drill, the ball delivery machine location and selected ball delivery locations associated with the selected stored drill for presentation at the display device via the user interface. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the computing device, an indication of user inputs relative to the visual representation that identify selected shot locations that are separate from the selected ball delivery locations. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 outputting, by the computing device for presentation at the display device, indications of user movement between the selected ball delivery locations and the selected shot locations. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 outputting, by the computing device for presentation at the display device, indications of user maneuvers corresponding to user movement between the selected ball delivery locations and the selected shot locations. 
 
     
     
       21. A basketball training system comprising:
 a ball delivery machine having a ball launcher; 
 a user interface comprising a display, wherein the user interface comprises a touchscreen user interface; 
 one or more processors; 
 a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: 
 presenting, on the display of the user interface, a visual representation of a portion of a basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court; 
 detecting user inputs on the user interface that identify selected ball delivery locations relative to the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court, wherein the user inputs are received relative to a ball delivery machine location displayed on the visual representation, wherein the selected ball delivery locations comprise an ordered sequence of ball delivery locations; 
 providing control commands to the ball launcher of the ball delivery machine to cause the ball launcher to launch basketballs in directions from the ball delivery machine to physical locations corresponding to the selected ball delivery locations according to the selected ball delivery locations that were received relative to the ball delivery machine location displayed on the visual representation; and 
 in response to detecting the user inputs on the user interface that identify new selected ball delivery locations, controlling the ball delivery machine to deliver basketballs to the new selected ball delivery locations, wherein the ball delivery machine is configured to deliver the basketballs to the selected ball delivery locations according to the ordered sequence; 
 a ball in play sensor that is configured to indicate when one or more basketballs are delivered by the ball launcher; and 
 a shot made sensor that is configured to indicate when one or more basketball shots are successfully made. 
 
     
     
       22. The basketball training system of  claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 detecting user inputs on the user interface that identify of the ball delivery machine location relative to the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court. 
 
     
     
       23. The basketball training system of  claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 detecting user inputs on the user interface that identify selected shot locations relative to the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court that is free of indicia representing predetermined ball delivery locations on the basketball court, wherein the selected shot locations are separate from the selected ball delivery locations. 
 
     
     
       24. The basketball training system of  claim 21 , wherein the user gesture inputs comprise a drag-and-drop input, wherein the user interface can present graphical control elements in the form of numbered icons, wherein the visual representation presented by the user interface further includes indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations, and wherein the indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations comprises lines. 
     
     
       25. The basketball training system of  claim 21 , wherein the visual representation presented on the display of the user interface further includes indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations, wherein the indicia that does not represent predetermined ball delivery locations comprises lines. 
     
     
       26. The basketball training system of  claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 presenting graphical control elements that enable a user to execute a drag-and-drop input to move one or more numbered icons to new selected basketball delivery locations relative to the visual representation of the portion of the basketball court.